Sambar
Sambar is a popular South Indian dish that is a flavorful and nutritious lentil-based stew. It is a combination of toor dal (split pigeon peas), vegetables, tamarind, and spices. The dish is seasoned with mustard seeds, curry leaves, and asafoetida, providing a distinctive taste. The tangy and slightly spicy flavour of sambar makes it a versatile accompaniment to various South Indian meals, often served with rice, idli, dosa, or vada.
Ingredients
To cook the dal
- ¼ cup toor dal
- ¼ cup split yellow moong dal
- 3 -4 small onions
- 1 potato cubed
- 3 cloves of garlic
- ¼ tsp asafoetida hing
- Water as needed
- Salt
To cook the vegetables
- 5 Lady´s finger cut into 1 inch pieces
- 3 carrots cubed
- 1 medium-sized Indian cucumber
- 10 small onions
- 1 tomato
- ½ raw mango
- 3 tbsp oil
- 2 tsp Kashmiri chilly powder
- ½ tsp chilly powder
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 3 tsp coriander powder
- Tamarind paste as needed
- Salt
- Water as needed
- 1 tsp sugar
Tempering
- 3 tsp coconut oil
- ½ tsp mustard
- ½ tsp cumin/jeera
- ⅛ tsp fenugreek seeds
- 1 dry red chilly
- A few curry leaves
- Coriander leaves for garnish
- Pinch asafoetida/hing
Instructions
Step 1
- Soak a lemon-sized tamarind in warm water for about 15-20 minutes. Squeeze the tamarind to extract the pulp, and discard the solids.
Step 2
- Rinse toor dal and moong dal thoroughly and cook them in a pressure cooker with enough water, salt, garlic cloves, potato (cubed), small onions, and asafoetida, until they become soft and mushy. (approximately about 3-4 whistles on medium flame). Mash the cooked dal and set aside.
Step 3
- Heat a large pot or a kadai, add coconut oil, add the cubed carrot and cook for about 5-7 minutes.
- After the carrot is half-cooked, add the other chopped vegetables, small onions, and tomatoes and cook until the vegetables are tender.
- Add all the spice powders and combine everything well. Add the tamarind pulp and cook for another 5 -7 minutes until the raw smell of the masala disappears. Don´t burn the masalas, if needed add a little amount of water.
- Add the mashed dal to the cooked vegetables and mix well. Adjust the consistency by adding water if needed. Add 1 tsp sugar/jaggery powder to balance all the taste.
- Let the sambar simmer for 5-7 minutes on low heat, allowing the flavours to meld.
- Garnish with fresh coriander leaves.
Tempering (optional)
- Heat coconut oil in a small pan, add cumin/jeera, mustard, dry red chilly, curry leaves, fenugreek seeds and a pinch of asafoetida/hing.
- Let them splutter and pour this tempering on the sambar.
- Your delicious and aromatic sambar is now ready to be served! Enjoy it with rice, idli, dosa, or any other South Indian dish of your choice.
Notes
You can use a combination of these vegetables based on your taste preferences. The variety of vegetables not only enhances the visual appeal of the dish but also adds different textures and flavours, making the sambar nutritious.
Remember to adjust the cooking time for each vegetable to ensure they are all cooked to perfection.
You can also use store-bought tamarind paste. Adjust the amount of tamarind paste to your tanginess preference. If you add raw mango, the amount of tamarind paste needed will be much less.
